And Then There Was One Aqueduct Bidder

Late Tuesday afternoon New York Lottery officials announced that only one bidder remains in the attempt to secure the lucrative Aqueduct Racino contract.

According to the press release Penn National Gaming and SL Green have been disqualified and are prohibited from re-submitting bids, even if the remaining bidder, Genting New York is not selected.

Lottery Director Gordon Medenica said, “The proposals did not conform with the requirements of the competition and, instead, attempted to negotiate for terms more favorable to the bidders.”

Both bidders failed to submit a signed copy of the original Memorandum of Understanding provided by Lottery officials, instead submitted alternate versions containing numerous “material deviations”.

Those “deviations” included several similar conditions being placed in both proposals including the willingness to fund the New York Racing Association, the request for the $300 million license fee to be placed in escrow and payable only upon the companies satisfaction, the right to terminate the contract at the companies discretion, request pertaining to property tax payments and several other factors that vary by company.

The Lottery will continue the evaluation process on Genting New York and will submit their recommendation to Governor Patterson, the Temporary President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the Assembly on or before August 3, 2010. However according to the statement, Genting is not guaranteed to be awarded the contract.